F1 News: Charles Leclerc Talks Weaknesses - "Difficult Weekend"

Despite the success at Monza, Ferrari's SF-23 would offer a great learning ground to develop an entirely different 2024 car.

Despite the successful run at Monza two weeks ago, the Italian GP threw light on the severe deficits and weaknesses in the performance of the current SF-23 F1 car. According to Charles Leclerc, Monza might have answered several questions Ferrari had, as the team continues to focus on a major change in the car's design for 2024. 

The testing Ferrari did at Monza helped confirm many theories on why the car loses out on performance when more downforce is added to it. Leclerc adds that the learnings Monza offered were important for this year and the next. He told Autosport.com:

“We learned plenty during Monza, especially about our weaknesses.

"And it confirmed that we were stronger on low downforce tracks, which obviously for here means it's going to be a bit more of a difficult weekend for us.

"After Monza we understood more things which are good for this year, even though it will be a small step in the right direction, but mostly it’s for designing next year's car which is positive.”

Revealing that the 2024 challenger is going to be a lot different from the existing car, and that the rest of the season would offer Ferrari more insight into the problems coming in the way of performance. He added:

“The 2024 project is very different to the car we have this year. With everything we've learned also, it reaffirms that it's a good choice that we've done for next year.

"The more we learn, the better it is for doing the last few details for next year's car. So it's super important.

"It’s really good to understand that also before the end of the season, because we've still got quite a few races. So we can maybe push a bit more in that direction.”

What is left to see is if Ferrari is able to triumph over the high downforce hurdle this weekend in Singapore, considering the fact that the Marina Bay Street Circuit is a proper high downforce track.